SWAT

The use of extreme violence by police, which has effectively normalised the use of military equipment and methods

SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) teams are US law enforcement units, which use specialized or military equipment and tactics.

Origins

SWAT teams were first created in the 1960s, to handle riot control or violent confrontations with criminals, the number and usage of SWAT teams increased in the 1980s and 1990s during the "War on Drugs".

"Swatting"

"Swatting" is the US prank of anonymously informing against someone, to lead the police to send a SWAT team to their house.[1] This has grown in popularity for use against people who have live streaming cameras on the internet.[2] This can have fatal consequences.[3]